Arsenal pay Kane penalty to miss chance of going top

A Harry Kane penalty stopped Arsenal going top of the Premier League as Tottenham Hotspur earned a 1-1 draw in the North London derby.

The Gunners took a first-half lead through Kevin Wimmer’s own goal but Kane, on his return from injury, ensured a share of the spoils for the visitors with a second-half spot-kick.

Tottenham were boosted by the return of Kane but dealt a late blow when Dele Alli was ruled out because of injury, meaning a first Premier League appearance of the season for Wimmer.

Meanwhile Arsenal made three changes with Nacho Monreal, Granit Xhaka and Theo Walcott returning to the side in place of Kieran Gibbs, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mohamed Elneny.

The game started at a high tempo with Spurs creating the better chances in the early exchanges, Kyle Walker heading over and Son Heung-Min playing a ball across Arsenal’s six-yard box that was just beyond Kane’s reach.

In the 21st minute Kane’s first clear chance, a diving header from a well-weighted Christian Eriksen cross, went narrowly wide as Tottenham made the most of the space they were being afforded on the wings.

After riding out the Tottenham’s dominant spell Arsenal began to grow into the game and looked effective on the counter-attack; Alex Iwobi shooting tamely at Hugo Lloris before Theo Walcott struck the inside of the post with a ferocious effort.

And that pressure paid off when Mesut Ozil whipped in a free kick from the right-wing that Wimmer, in his efforts to beat Laurent Koscielny and Alexis Sanchez to the ball, headed into his own goal.

Tottenham came out of the traps quickest in the second-half and their efforts paid dividends when Mousa Dembele was fouled by Koscielny on the edge of the box in the 50th minute.

Kane took the opportunity to pull Spurs level from the penalty spot, which he did with a well struck shot down the centre of the goal.

Minutes later only a last-ditch Monreal tackle prevented Tottenham taking the lead through Kane when he looked to tap in from close range following Danny Rose’s ball across the face of goal.

And a Christian Eriksen free kick almost caught everyone off-guard and crept in as Tottenham had the best chances to claim all three points.

-Report by ESPN FC/soccernet.com